Last Summer of 2010 was probably the hottest dry season that Zambales has encountered. It was so dry that my favorite Haruan spot had dried up and the Haruan population was literally decimated. The once wide expanse of marsh land was reduced to an arid grassland. When the rains came last June and the months after that, the marsh slowly began to fill with water.
The long weekend of All Soul's Holiday last weekend was a perfect time to test the marsh once more. We left Friday night and arrived there at around 2AM Saturday. The original plan was to fish the estuaries using my kayak during early mornings and late afternoons and in-between, fish for Haruans and on my last day, go trolling. Unfortunately, high tide occurs late at night and I am not so keen spending the night on an isolated estuary all by my self at night, on All Soul's day :-). I don't want to meet a real Mamaw at a time like that.
I did try kayak fishing for Jacks on the first day during daytime but after catching only a couple of MJs, I abandoned kayak fishing. Paddling during outgoing tide is too much work for just a few takers. Instead, I decided to concentrate on Haruans. I am actually glad I did. From an arid grassland, the rains helped transform the area into a recovering marshland. Water triggered the recovery of small baitfishes --- tilapias, walo-walo, gurame, etc. With the spread of baitfishes, Haruans seemed to have bloomed out of nowhere. After days of fishing (2 hours in the morning and 2.5 hours in the afternoon), I managed to catch, photograph, and release 21 Haruans. In addition, I was also fortunate enough to land 3 table-sized mangrove jacks (1pc 500grams and 2 pcs 750grams).
Undas 2011 from Hibiki on Vimeo.
The arid grassland slowly turned into an aquatic heaven. It still has a long way to go before returning to its former state but it's getting there. I sure hope it would. The only hurdle that it needs to go through is the coming dry season. I hope it wouldn't dry up again like what happened last year.
One thing I also realized during the Undas (All Soul's Day) fishing is the use of a Heavy topwater rod or frog rod. I always notice that American anglers have these stout, stiff, and long frog rods when they are fishing for bass using frog lures. I always thought that they are overdoing it. Before, my rod of choice for haruan fishing was just an 8-17 or max of 10-20lb 6ft to 6'6" Medium rod. I always thought that it was the perfect frog rod. I was completely wrong. For the first time, I tried my Majorcraft Slicer 12-25lb Heavy rod (almost 7ft) in Haruan fishing using frog lures. Boy, it was revelation. That was the perfect Heavy-cover frog rod that I should use. The American anglers were right on the money when frog fishing. The powerful, long, and light rod was perfect for the needed hook sets and the power to pull the fish out of heavy weeds. Before, when I was using lighter rods, I always lose fish due to poor hooksets and if I did manage to hook one, I almost always wade to where the fish is for fear of breaking the rod if I muscle it away from the weeds.
When I started using the Slicer 12-25lbs, I was always 100% on hooksets and I can easily pull fish and weeds out to shore no matter how far they are. No more wading.
To top it off, the Heavy but light rod was also a perfect rod for topwater saltwater fishing. So, the next time you buy a frog rod or a top water salt rod, get a 7ft or longer rod and leave those light rods for jerkbaits and spinners. You will feel the difference.
Dear Sir Alex,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for all of the information you were able to provide us for our trip to Aling Nene's. We will be going there again tomorrow to try our luck a second time!
Some lessons learned included now understanding how deep the pong actually is (I believe we were fishing too shallow for the apahap), and I must now tie bread flies on stouter hooks to keep bangus from straightening the light hooks I use on most of my trout flies in the states.
I was wondering tho sir...I am a big fan of fishing soft plastic jerkbaits for bass in the states. I also love curly-tailed soft plastic swim baits on jig heads. I believe both of these tactics would allow me to fish Aling Nene's pond more effectively, but now do not know where I can find these goods here. Would you happen to know any fishing or tackle stores where I can find these items?
Again, all of your help is so greatly appreciated. I love the blog and am happy knowing that the angling community in the Philippines seems to be a dedicated, and desirably smaller, group. Thank you again. I hope this message finds you well and I look forward to your reply.
Tight lines,
Miguel CuUnjieng
Hi Miguel,
ReplyDeleteThanks. Aling Nene's pond is not too deep. Around 6 feet at the most. Barras are not too active on artificial lures lately because of the abundance of baitfish. But you can try at around 10am-12nn and 4pm-6pm when they are actively feeding. Try targeting the edges of the dikes. That where they congregate when feeding. Try using very light Flouro leaders at around 8-10lbs and small 2 inch jerkbaits or paddle tail lures. Orange, Blue, and Silver are their favorites. Retrieve very slow. Cast parallel to the banks.
For bangus, #4 #6 beaks should be fine. Use Pan de Sal uncooked dough as bait under a float. You can buy pan de sal dough from local bakeries.
Your best place to get soft plastics is Goodcatch Fishing tackle in Malate (Quirino cor Roxas Blvd. They sell mostly Berkley products, China Merchandizing which is near Goodcatch fishing (at the back of Macapagal bldg) which sells assorted Zoom and Storm plastics, and Alex Tackle which is located in G. Araneta in Quezon City (going to C3 highway). They sell different kinds of brands.
Hope this helps.
Alex